To Enter Global Modular Housing Market
GS Engineering & Construction (GS E&C) has acquired three advanced modular companies in the United States and Europe to enter the global housing construction market. GS E&C has become the first Korean builder to take over an advanced foreign modular company.
GS E&C announced on Jan. 21 that company president Huh Yoon-hong signed a contract in Poland on Jan. 20 (local time) to acquire Danwood SA, a wooden modular housing company in Bialystok, Poland, from Enterprise Investors (EI), a private equity and venture capital firm in Poland. The contract was signed in the presence of EI chairman Jacek Siwicki and Danwood president Jaroslaw Jurak.
Previously, on Jan. 16, Huh concluded a contract to acquire Elements Europe Ltd, a British steel modular company. GS E&C has also wrapped up negotiations to take over a U.S. steel modular company, with the main contract to be signed this February.
The acquisition price of Danwood is about 180 billion won (about US$155 million) and those of the other companies will be determined later.
GS E&C plans to penetrate the U.S. and European modular housing markets by utilizing the strengths, technologies, and networks of the three acquired companies.
Danwood, a specialist in wooden single-family houses, ranks fourth in sales in the German modular housing market.
Elements Europe has a number of track records in lofty modular structures in the United Kindom. It also produces modular toilets which are gaining popularity in advanced modular markets, and ranks third among U.K. modular toilet manufacturers.
The U.S. company to be acquired by GS E&C is a high-rise steel modular company that secures cost competitiveness through design, cost, construction management and global sourcing through building information modeling (BIM). It is currently building the world's tallest modular hotel for its completion in 2021.